Sports Fodder: Lippincott deserves more national recognition

Sports fodder for a Friday morning ...

It's time Nevada Wolf Pack running back Luke Lippincott gets some attention. Lippincott leads the Western Athletic Conference in rushing last season with 1,420 yards and who gets named the WAC's preseason Offensive Player of the Year? Why, it's Boise State's Ian Johnson, of course. Lippincott turns in one of the greatest offensive seasons in Wolf Pack history a year ago, scoring 18 touchdowns, and all anyone wants to talk about is the quarterback situation. And to think the Pack brought this kid to town as a safety out of Palma High in Salinas, Calif. Lippincott is going to cement his place in the Wolf Pack Hall of Fame this season.

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Just a thought, but Barry Bonds wasn't doing anything this summer, the United States's Olympic team could have used another big bat and, well, why not? Bonds could have showed the entire world that he is the greatest home run hitter in the history of the game. Bonds and his agent have been crying all season about how Barry would play for the minimum salary, so why not just play for free for the good old USA?

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The United States men's basketball team is stuck in a no-win situation. If it wins the gold, well, that's what it was expected to do. Ho-hum. It's not even fun to watch those silly games when the U.S. slaughters someone by 35. But if the U.S. loses, well, then it's a bunch of selfish ball-hogs who can't be coached and won't hustle and only care about promoting themselves and all of their sponsors. Watching the U.S. Olympic team is sort of like watching auto racing, hoping to see a crash.

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Gene Upshaw, who died at his home in Lake Tahoe this week after suffering from pancreatic cancer, was truly one of the greatest men that the NFL has even known. As a Raider, Upshaw was one of the best offensive linemen in the history of the game. There would never have been a Raider mystique without Upshaw and his teammates. Upshaw, though, did even more for the game as the players' union boss. Those same players, though, were always quick to criticize Upshaw, claiming he was too close to former commissioner Paul Tagliabue and for not caring about former players who suffer from physical and mentail ailments after their career is over. Upshaw, though, acting like a true Raider, took the criticism like a man for two decades and also fired back his own shots.

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Maybe Hope Solo should have been in goal against Brazil in the World Cup a few years ago after all. Solo, who was benched in that World Cup semifinal game and complained about it at after the U.S. lost 4-0, was back in the nets as the U.S. shut out Brazil, 1-0, Thursday to win the Olympic women's soccer gold medal. Why do soccer teams need coaches anyway?

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The city of Seattle will be allowed to keep some championship banners and trophies despite the fact that their NBA team is moving to Oklahoma City. The team's new owners, though, can keep the Sonics logo and name but can't use them in Oklahoma City. And when and if Seattle gets a new team, it gets back its old logo and name. Confused? Why didn't they just let Seattle keep the Sonics and give Oklahoma City an expansion team? That would have been too easy.

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Oklahoma City is going to choose between Thunder, Bison, Energy, Wind, Marshalls and Barons as their new team name. Ironically. We like Bison. Thunder, Energy and Wind sound like a Weather Channel ad. And how do you create a logo for thunder, energy and wind? Marshalls? Marshall Dillon? Donyell Marshall? The Barons were an old hockey team in Cleveland. Go Bison.

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Major league baseball umpires have agreed to allow instant replay, presumably starting sometime later this month. It's only going to be used on home run balls so it's really no big deal. Don't worry about having to sit through four-hour games every night. If baseball wanted to replay out calls at the plate or on the bases then you would have seen an umpire revolt. But this limited amount of instant replay will actually help umpires. Thank goodness the umps put their egos aside and approved it.

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Wolf Pack fans, if you are only going to go to one football game this season, make it the Grambling game on Aug. 30. No, the football won't be all that exciting. The Pack should win by three touchdowns which, I guess, is exciting enough. The real excitement " and many of the best athletes you'll see on the field all night " is going to surround the Grambling band. Don't miss it.

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And, by the way, forget about going to just one Pack football game. If you want exciting football don't miss the Texas Tech game on Sept. 6. The scoreboard might explode with all of the points the Pack and Red Raiders will put up. And then there's the all-important Boise game (this is the year the Pack beats Boise, by the way) in late November. This is the best home schedule in years at Mackay Stadium.